Our clinically-rich Teacher Education programs are designed to develop personal, intellectual, and professional qualities that are essential for excellent, caring, highly competent teachers. Throughout their experience at Felician, our students are immersed in a culture that exemplifies our Franciscan values of Respect for Human Dignity, Compassion, Transformation, Solidarity with the Poor, Justice and Peace, Diversity, Reverence, Service, and Joy. In addition to being excellent teachers, our graduates reflect our Franciscan values and our mission in their personal and professional lives.

Starting with their first year, our students spend an entire day each week in real classrooms in a variety of contexts. This experience in the field helps our teacher candidates to discern if they are really called to teach. It also helps to familiarize them with the challenges facing children and schools in our society.

Along with the personal attention the faculty gives to each teacher candidate and the caring Franciscan curriculum and teaching in the School of Education, the intensive clinical field experiences are a hallmark of our program. Throughout four academic years, the specialized areas of the curriculum focus on the learner-centered nature of early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special education. The sequence of carefully planned and directed professional field experiences enables our students to apply theory to practice and to deepen their understanding of how children grow and learn. The continuum of supervised field experiences begins in freshman year and extends through both sophomore and junior semesters, and the first semester of the senior year, culminating with student teaching.

The faculty members of the School of Teacher Education are experienced professionals committed to providing the kind of education for our teacher candidates that we would like them to provide for their students. The Teacher Education faculty regularly engages in collaborative reflection to assess the program and to chart a course of continuous improvement in the curriculum and teaching we provide for our students. Our faculty models the values and skills we would like our students to demonstrate.

Throughout four academic years, the specialized areas of the curriculum focus on the child-oriented nature of elementary, secondary, and special education. To relate theory to practice and to deepen the understanding of how children grow and learn, a sequence of carefully planned and directed laboratory experiences is provided beginning with the spring semester of the freshman year. The continuum of supervised field experiences culminates with a upper level junior field, senior field experience, and student-teaching in the second half of senior year.

Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education Certificate Programs (TEC)

A very popular program in the School of Education is the post-baccalaureate teacher education certificate program. This program enables a student who holds a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college to complete the requirements necessary for attaining a New Jersey Department of Education Teaching Certificate.

The following Certificate Programs are available for a student who holds an existing New Jersey State Department Teaching Certification:

Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3 Endorsement (P-3)

Special Education Teacher of Students with Disabilities Endorsement (TOSD)

The School of Education also runs very successful cohort programs leading to a Bachelor’s Degree on and off campus designed for Working Adults. This program is designed for adult students, age 22 or older and leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education (K-6) and Early Childhood (P-3) with a co-major in English. The program follows a semester schedule with two eighteen week periods in the fall and spring. Each semester is divided into two 9-week blocks during which the student will take two-three courses and earn six credits.